Christopher Darden | |
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Born | Christopher Allen Darden April 7, 1956 Richmond, California, U.S. |
Education | San Jose State University (BS) University of California, Hastings (JD) |
Occupations |
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Years active | 1980–present |
Political party | Democratic |
Spouse | Marcia Carter (m. 1997) |
Children | 5 |
Website | www.christopherdardenforjudge.com |
Christopher Allen Darden (born April 7, 1956) is an American lawyer, author, lecturer, and judicial candidate. He worked for 15 years in the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office, where he gained national attention as a co-prosecutor in the O. J. Simpson murder case.
Darden was born in Richmond, California, [1] the fourth of eight siblings. [2] After graduating from John F. Kennedy High School in 1974, Darden enrolled at San Jose State University, where he participated in track and field and joined Alpha Phi Alpha, an African-American fraternity. [2] He received his B.S. in criminal justice administration in 1977. Darden received his Juris Doctor from the University of California, Hastings, in 1980. [3]
Darden took and passed the California Bar Exam in the summer of 1980. Four months afterward, he was hired at the National Labor Relations Board in Los Angeles. Looking for a career change, he applied for and was hired for a position with the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office. Darden was initially assigned to the Huntington Park office before moving on to Beverly Hills, and finally moved to the Criminal Courts Building (CCB) in downtown Los Angeles in late 1983. [2]
During his tenure as a prosecutor at the CCB, Darden served in the central trials and hard-core gang units before transferring to the Special Investigation Division (SID), which investigates criminal activity by public and law enforcement officials, in February 1988. It was in this position that Darden first met Johnnie Cochran, who represented some victims of alleged police violence. [2] Darden and Cochran became close friends, with Darden seeing Cochran as a mentor figure.
Darden initially became involved in the O. J. Simpson murder case after being asked by Deputy District Attorneys Marcia Clark and William Hodgman to lead the prosecution of Al Cowlings, Simpson's friend and the driver of the white Ford Bronco during the infamous car chase. After Darden's work on the Cowlings case ended, Clark requested Darden join the Simpson team as case manager since she and Hodgman were bogged down by various motions and filings from the defense. Darden was also tasked by Clark to prepare the prosecution's witnesses for testimony, including preparing testimony for key witness Detective Mark Fuhrman. After Hodgman was incapacited by stress-related illness in the courtroom shortly before opening statements, Darden was named co-prosecutor. [2] Darden's friendship with Cochran, who was a prominent figure on Simpson's defense team, became heavily strained due to their clashing positions regarding the inclusion of racism in the case. Simpson was ultimately acquitted. Darden incidentally normalized the term N-word , a euphemistic alternative reference to the word "nigger", as the first public figure to use that term, while cross-examining Fuhrman. [4]
Darden left the District Attorney's office after the Simpson case [5] [6] and joined the faculty of the Southwestern University School of Law. Darden taught and specialized in criminal procedure and trial advocacy. [2]
Darden is a former legal commentator for CNBC, CNN, Court TV, and NBC, and a frequent guest and commentator on CNN, Court TV, and Fox News Network.[ citation needed ] He has made guest appearances on Touched by an Angel , [7] Girlfriends , The Tonight Show with Jay Leno , The Howard Stern Show, Muppets Tonight , Roseanne , the movie Liar Liar (uncredited), and the TV movie One Hot Summer Night (in which he plays a disgruntled policeman). [7] He is the former principal attorney in the syndicated legal show Power of Attorney .
Darden is also a writer. In addition to In Contempt, [7] which chronicles his experiences with the Simpson trial, he co-authored (with Dick Lochte) a number of crime novels, including The Trials of Nikki Hill (1999), LA Justice (2000), and The Last Defense (2002).
He appeared on the cover of Newsweek in 1996 with an article "My Case Against O.J.", which addressed his involvement and prosecution of Simpson. [8]
Darden left the law school in 1999 and started his own firm, Darden & Associates, Inc., specializing in criminal defense and civil litigation. In December 2007, he was considered for a judgeship by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. [9]
In an interview by Oprah Winfrey that aired February 9, 2006, Darden stated that he still believed Simpson was guilty. He added that he was nearly as disgusted with the perjury of Mark Fuhrman as by the murders of Goldman and Simpson. [10]
On September 6, 2012, Darden accused deceased Simpson defense lawyer Johnnie Cochran of "'manipulating' one of the infamous gloves", [11] a claim Alan Dershowitz has called "a total fabrication", saying, "the defense doesn't get access to evidence except under controlled circumstances." [12]
Darden represented Eric Ronald Holder, Jr. in his arraignment on April 4, 2019. Darden entered a not guilty plea on behalf of Holder, who is accused of murdering Nipsey Hussle. [13] [14] [15] Darden dropped out of the case May 10, the same day as the court date. Darden received multiple death threats for representing Holder. [16]
As of April 2020 [update] , Darden is representing a man accused of pulling a knife on a television crew at a COVID-19 anti-lockdown protest rally in Huntington Beach and forcing them to delete footage. [17]
It was reported in August 2020 that Darden would briefly represent Corey Walker for arraignment, the alleged killer of rapper Pop Smoke. [18] [19] [20]
Darden ran for judge in Los Angeles County Superior Court in 2024, but lost to Leslie Gutierrez. [21]
Darden married TV executive Marcia Carter on August 31, 1997. [7] They have three children, with Darden having two children before their marriage. [22]
Mark Fuhrman is a former detective of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD). He is primarily known for his part in the investigation of the 1994 murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman in the O. J. Simpson murder case.
Lance Allan Ito is an American retired judge, best known for presiding over the criminal trial for the O. J. Simpson murder case, held in the Los Angeles County Superior Court in 1995.
Johnnie Lee Cochran Jr. was an American attorney from California who was involved in numerous civil rights and police brutality cases throughout his 38-year career spanning from 1964 to 2002. Noted for his skill in the courtroom, he is best known for leading the so-called "Dream Team" during the murder trial of O.J. Simpson.
Robert George Kardashian was an American attorney and businessman. He gained recognition as O. J. Simpson's friend and defense attorney during Simpson's 1995 murder trial. He had four children with his first wife, Kris Kardashian: Kourtney, Kim, Khloé, and Rob, who appear on their family reality television series, Keeping Up with the Kardashians, and its spinoffs.
Marcia Rachel Clark is an American prosecutor, author, television correspondent, and television producer. She is best known for having been the lead prosecutor in the O. J. Simpson murder case.
Power of Attorney is an American syndicated nontraditional court show that differed from other judge shows in that each side was represented by famous attorneys who cross-examined witnesses. It was produced by 20th Century Fox Television.
Robert Leslie Shapiro is an American attorney and entrepreneur. He is best known for being the short-term defense lawyer of Erik Menéndez in 1990, and a member of the "Dream Team" of O. J. Simpson's attorneys that successfully defended him from the charges that he murdered his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and Ron Goldman, in 1994. He later turned to civil work and co-founded ShoeDazzle, LegalZoom, and RightCounsel.com, appearing in their television commercials.
Barry Charles Scheck is an American attorney and legal scholar. He received national media attention while serving on O. J. Simpson's defense team, collectively dubbed the "Dream Team", helping to win an acquittal in the highly publicized murder case. Scheck is the director of the Innocence Project and a professor at Yeshiva University's Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in New York City.
The People of the State of California v. Orenthal James Simpson was a criminal trial in Los Angeles County Superior Court, in which former NFL player and actor O. J. Simpson was tried and acquitted for the murders of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman, who were stabbed to death outside Brown's condominium in Los Angeles on June 12, 1994. The trial spanned eight months, from January 24 to October 3, 1995.
Orenthal James Simpson, also known by his nickname "The Juice", was an American football player, actor, and media personality who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 11 seasons, primarily with the Buffalo Bills. Simpson is regarded as one of the greatest running backs of all time, but his professional success was overshadowed by his trial and controversial acquittal for the murders of his former wife Nicole Brown and her friend Ron Goldman in 1994.
American Tragedy is a 2000 American television film broadcast on CBS from November 12, 2000, to November 15, 2000, that is based on the O. J. Simpson murder case for the 1994 murder of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ron Goldman. Ving Rhames starred as defense attorney Johnnie Cochran. It was directed by Lawrence Schiller, and the screenplay was adapted from Schiller's book, American Tragedy: The Uncensored Story of the Simpson Defense, by novelist Norman Mailer, who had previously collaborated with Schiller on The Executioner's Song. It was produced by Fox Television Studios. Mailer publicly criticized CBS for its promotion of the miniseries, which used ads that focused on the fact that Simpson tried unsuccessfully to have the courts block its broadcast. It won a Satellite Award and was nominated for a Golden Globe Award.
Carl Edwin Douglas is an American civil rights, wrongful death, personal injury, employment, and criminal defense attorney specializing in police misconduct cases. He is best known for being one of the defense attorneys in the O. J. Simpson murder case, who were collectively dubbed the "Dream Team". Douglas was the managing attorney at the law office of Johnnie Cochran Jr., before leaving to establish The Douglas Law Group in 1998. The practice is now known as Douglas / Hicks Law. Douglas' other notable clients have included: singer Michael Jackson, actors Jamie Foxx and Queen Latifah, former NFL safety Darren Sharper and rappers Tupac Shakur and Sean "Puffy" Combs.
In court proceedings in the United States, a Perry Mason moment is said to have occurred whenever information is unexpectedly, and often dramatically, introduced into the record that changes the perception of the proceedings greatly and often influences the outcome. Often it takes the form of a witness's answer to a question, but it can sometimes come in the form of new evidence. It takes its name from Perry Mason, a fictional character in novels and stories written by Erle Stanley Gardner, where such dramatic reversals occurred, often in the form of witnesses confessing to crimes others were accused of in response to the sudden exposure of an inconsistency in their alibi.
Outrage: The Five Reasons Why O. J. Simpson Got Away with Murder is a true crime book by Vincent Bugliosi published in 1996. Bugliosi sets forth five main reasons why the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office failed to successfully convict O. J. Simpson for the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman. Personally convinced of Simpson's guilt, Bugliosi blames his acquittal on the district attorney, the judge, and especially the prosecuting attorneys Marcia Clark and Christopher Darden.
The first season of American Crime Story, titled The People v. O. J. Simpson, revolves around the O. J. Simpson murder trial, as well as the combination of prosecution confidence, defense witnesses, and the Los Angeles Police Department's history with African-American people. It is based on Jeffrey Toobin's book The Run of His Life: The People v. O. J. Simpson (1997).
The "Dream Team" refers to the team of trial lawyers that represented American athlete O. J. Simpson in his 1995 trial for the murder of his former wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and Ronald Goldman. The team included Robert Shapiro, Johnnie Cochran, Carl Douglas, Shawn Chapman Holley, Gerald Uelmen, Robert Kardashian, Alan Dershowitz, F. Lee Bailey, Barry Scheck, Peter Neufeld, Robert Blasier, and William Thompson.
The Juice is an upcoming dramatic crime thriller film centered around conspiracy theories purporting to exonerate O. J. Simpson of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman.
With no witnesses to the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman, DNA evidence in the O. J. Simpson murder case was the key physical proof used by the prosecution to link O. J. Simpson to the crime. Over nine weeks of testimony, 108 exhibits of DNA evidence, including 61 drops of blood, were presented at trial. Testing was cross-referenced and validated at three separate labs using different tests with no discrepancies found. The prosecution offered the defense access to the evidence samples to conduct their own testing, but they declined.
On Tuesday, October 3, 1995, the verdict in the O. J. Simpson murder case was announced and Simpson was acquitted on both counts of murder. Although the nation observed the same evidence presented at trial, a division along racial lines emerged in observers' opinion of the verdict, which the media dubbed the "racial gap". Immediately following the trial, polling showed that most African Americans believed Simpson was innocent and justice had been served, while most White Americans felt he was guilty and the verdict was a racially motivated jury nullification by a mostly African-American jury. Current polling shows the gap has narrowed since the trial, with the majority of black respondents in 2016 stating they believed Simpson was guilty.
William Hodgman is an American lawyer and prosecutor. He served as a prosecutor during the O. J. Simpson murder trial, a role in which he gained international attention. He also served as the Assistant District Attorney for line operations in the Los Angeles District Attorney's office.
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